A Look Inside The Focal Aria 906 Speakers
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- Опубликовано: 20 сен 2023
- Have you ever wondered what a Focal Aria 906 looks like inside? In this video we examine the cabinet constructions, crossovers, TS parameters of the woofer, and then give my opinion on the 906. Check out my review video (which will be out in October) if you want to hear my opinion on how the Aria 906 sounds.
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My review of the Aria 906: • A Review of The Focal ...
Get the Focal Aria 906 for up to 50% off at the below links:
Focal Aria 906 in dark walnut (these are the ones I have): amzn.to/46frs2b
Focal Aria 906 in prime walnet: amzn.to/3sW9Jyy
Focal Aria 906 in gloss black: amzn.to/3t1B5Dt
Focal matching stands: amzn.to/48nqS4C
Dayton Audio DATs V3: amzn.to/3ZlG8L0
Brass nuts for the Focal Aria can be found here:
Brass nuts: amzn.to/3IFLOIS
Brass nuts vendor 2: amzn.to/3BYrwq9
Brass lock washers: amzn.to/43iaRcK
My videos about upgrading speakers can be found here: • My playlist about upgr...
My look inside videos on speakers can be found here: • My Look Inside Videos
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Get the Focal Aria 906 for up to 50% off at the below links:
Focal Aria 906 in dark walnut (these are the ones I have): amzn.to/46frs2b
Focal Aria 906 in prime walnet: amzn.to/3sW9Jyy
Focal Aria 906 in gloss black: amzn.to/3t1B5Dt
Focal matching stands: amzn.to/48nqS4C
Dayton Audio DATs V3: amzn.to/3ZlG8L0
Always interesting to have a look inside. Thank you for taking the trouble.
I totally agree on your assesment of these speakers ! Good job !
I’m more of a Costco guy myself but I liked how you used your Sam’s club card 😂. Sad to see how they used lower quality parts but hopefully the end result is still nice. Keep up the good work!
Thanks, Jay!
That exactly why I was using my Sam's Club card because I'm letting the membership lapse. lol!
Looks like about $300 worth of parts per speaker.
That's about right. 300 in parts, maybe another 300 to assemble and paint etc. Then you have marketing, distribution, insurance costs etc. That probably means the selling price to trade is around 1000 to 1200, then the retailer will mark them up by around 40%. That gives your retail price.
Your comment is like saying "that house has bricks and mortar worth 10% of the valuation, so the valuation is wrong"
I believe he is implying that this speaker should be selling for $300 and not $2200 and he is very right. Focal is on the top of my list of "troll" manufacturers that rob the buyer of their hard earned money. Did you see the chinsy Radio Shack like tweeter the Aria uses? No, Focal isn't getting my money...ever.
I was told that how ever much you buy a new speaker for it cost about 1/4 of that to make. Sounds about right to me.
Great video pal! I think you should do a crossover update and make some content on it 👍🏻 perhaps tube connectors and No Rez?
😅natürlich kann man das upgraden. Aber für das Geld kann man doch erwarten das da was gescheites drin steckt!!!👍🇩🇪
Really interesting thanks for filming. These are only a few hundred Euros during sales in Europe, which seems much more in keeping with the build. The soft stick-on wave guide and thin MDF were particular disappointments for me.
"These are only a few hundred Euros in Europe"
Holy cow! Really?! Now it all makes sense!
@@generationbehindhifi Yeah... each! Cheapest each is 439€ at the moment.
Yea, for whatever reason-import taxes/shipping/pure proximity-All focal speaker la are usually significantly less expensive in Europe than in the US. Maybe they just mark them up because they are a little more revered stateside than in Europe where they may seem a little more ubiquitous. But if you can track down guys selling focals second hand in Europe and willing to ship stateside, you can get really really great scores. And often, the Shipping isn’t nearly as shocking as you expect it to be, especially on Car audio.
Love your emphasizing on this focal 2195 price tag. 👍👍👍👍👍
Probably because I was shocked that they can sell these for $2198. I'm still shaking my head about them. My new SVS Ultra Evolution bookshelves will completely decimate the Aria 906s in every category and they are only $1198 a pair. It just goes to show that a big price tag doesn't automatically mean quality. 🙂
@@generationbehindhifi A lot of it is the name, brand recognition, and NOT made in People's Republic of China. Many people would gladly pay more for French/Japanese/German/etc. manufacture. Hand built also adds perceived value to many, not all but many.
Focal Aria 906 costs around 700 Euros here in Europe.😊
Yes us price is just crazy. I just buy the ARIA 936 for 1590 euros. (both)
Hi thank you for review, could you please provide the female blade connectors size for tweeter and midbass, thank tou
I bought them a pair for 600usd in Europe. They usual store price here is a 1000usd per pair but often gets on huge sale
Can you do a crossover upgrade? Maybe Dodo Hex mat the inside too to fix the ringing. Speaker cable inside also looks weedy. Though I would understand if you just flogged them on but at 800 dollars if you get a good deal that does leave room for mods. At least removing the steel parts off the crossover and solder on some wire + upgrade wire + Hex mat would cost very little and should help.
These speakers are waaaaaaaay cheaper in EU and UK. Bagged mine for £400 7 years ago. They seem to have held their value well over time.
Disappointing build and crossover components but I really love the way they sound.
Kef speakers are amazing. I just got three r11s.
Yeah, it is a stamped steel basket, but it sure does sound good. REL will happily sell you a sub with a diecast basket. You just have to open up your wallet a bit more. ;)
Never liked Focal and it is shocking to see how cheap they make these speakers. Thanks for doing this. I hope you can get to do this with many other brands. Great video!
No problem! This was my first pair of Focal and I wasn't impressed! Check out my look inside playlist to see all of the tear downs that I have done -- the link is in the description.
@@generationbehindhifi I wish if you could do same video on B&W 606 S3. thanks for this video man
Focal was more known for making drivers that mostly DIY used to make their speakers with. However, from what I have seen (here and in other places) their fully made speaker cabinets leave much to be desired. Definitely not worth the money. Not that I would be spending $2k on a set of bookshelf speakers anyway.
It is hard to tell, but is there a seam in the woofer cone? At 2:24 in the video, there is a dark line at nearly 9 o'clock of the cone - is that a seam?
The magnet structure of the tweeter is *tiny*. There apparently is almost no space behind the inverted dome for a resonance chamber. I'm guessing the Fs of the tweeter is quite high?
If I was to guess at the XO design, it looks like a 2nd order on the tweeter, 1st order on the woofer, with a notch filter on the woofer.
Hi Neil, I know exactly what you're talking about because when I was unboxing these speakers I thought the same thing! Thankfully its just the material that Focal uses which gives off an illusion that there is a seem there.
I didn't even bother to measure the tweeter because I knew it would probably be bad and I didn't want to turn this into a Focal Aria 906 bashing video. IMO the Aria 906's are a complete rip off at $2200 a pair, but at the current sale price of $998 a pair they offer pretty decent value for money. I just finished my review video of them and will post it next month. I go into more detail about how the Aria 906 sounds and compare it my KEF Q350.
Yes, I was mostly shocked by that tweeter as well. It reminded me of a hard dome tweeter that I bought at Radio Shack to make a small set of bookshelf speakers. It had a tiny magnet like the Focal's have.
GR - research RUclips channel does custom X-overs for all types of speakers
he did a video on the aria. He called the crossover "Cheese", which is Danny's polite way of saying "garbage."
can the speaker terminal/crossover be removed
from the back?
No, you need to remove the woofer and press on the tabs on the terminal cup from inside the cabinet to release it.
Can you test what Kef q350 impedance is?
I will be doing a full review, a look inside video, and a upgrade video series on the Q350. I'm working on the look inside video right now and should have it out next month.
your videos are very good
I really appreciate that! Thanks!
I bought the same speaker on line new for 800$ and I would say they are really good at that price but definitely not for the retail price. i use them for 2.1 bedroom system and they are good in that roll.
yeah thats about all its worth.
@@jondonnelly4831 Not even $800, $450, $500 maybe. But for $2200, they are out of their minds.
How about inside Elac vela 403?bro
I reached out to Elac, they ignored me. LOL! Maybe I'm too small to matter?! Maybe if enough of you bug them they will send me a review sample?
👍👍
I use Buchardt S400mkll, you must check out what you get for the money on these 😎
I have heard a lot of good things about them! I would love it if Buchardt would send me a pair to tear down and review, but my channel is too small to matter. ;) Maybe someday.
The US pricing is ridiculous. I just checked the pricing in Europe and you can get them for around 1000€ for new and half of that for used pair (in Slovakia)
Thanks so much for this video as it goes to value and what one should expect for this kind of $$$$, with most speaker manufacturers. Important thing to remember is economy of country built and where parts are procured. In the case of this speaker it's all cheesy parts and the sound confirm this. Pig with Lipstick...
No problem! My review video of the Aria 906 will be out on November 3rd
😮
wow 😯 that tweeter magnet is so small !! and not impressed by that crossover for a $2,000 + speaker.
What if there was ferral magentic material in the binding posts? Also, its sad to see the quality in speakers costing so much. Seems like you can get the same quality or better for cheaper or diy. I guess in this example you are just paying for the name? Awesome video as always though!
Ferromagnetic components are never good in the signal path because they introduce passive intermodulation, aka 3rd-order harmonics distortion to the signal. IEEE did a white paper on their findings, which can be found here: ieeexplore.ieee.org/ielaam/22/8681220/8632973-aam.pdf
I have two Klipsch towers and two SVS subwoofers. Total cost: $1100 delivered. That's the price of one Focal speaker.
Take a look at the crossover in the CSS Criton 1TDX, the upgraded one. Puts the Focal crossover to shame.
I'm well aware of CSS. I am using one of their SDX10 drivers in my Supercharging a JBL subwoofer video series. They make some very nice stuff!
😅look inside klipsch rp series ironcore coils and elkos
These used to be $899 all day long on Amazon.
Yeah they are constructed like $899 speakers.
Wow! That's some price increase for $899 speakers. $899 to $2200 a pair. Insane!
@@generationbehindhifi Yeah that really is a crazy price increase. I don't think they are worth $2200 at all.
Lmao thats more than I can buy new in eu and that includes 23% Vat tax
That crossover is straight cheese 😂
Definitely moldy cheese!
Dude, don't use a butter knife! Get a 4140 pannel pry tool so you don't mess up the speaker on accident.
Settle down, its fine! I promise no speakers were damaged in the making of this video. :) That's why the plastic credit card is underneath to protect the speaker. I don't see how a 4140 pry bar made out of stainless steel would be any better? I tried a plastic pry tool but it would just bend without loosening anything up so out came the butterknife, which served its purpose. The fact is Focal loves their double sided tape which can make servicing the speaker difficult.
@@generationbehindhifi having a hater just means you’re doing something right
@@EveryDayJay415he's not an hater. He's more of a seeker. Seeking out things which Ain't Perfect 😂
@@totalplonker824 He isn't wrong though and the tool mentioned does an exceptional job, taking crude tools to expensive equipment is looking for trouble - eventually it will cost you.
These FOCAL speakers were a bit of a horror show inside for $2000. Garbage.
You have to look at the price that they cost at the country of origin, and then decide if its worth it to pay double for import cost and markups. People in france bought these for 500 euros.
In America these speakers cost $2198 per pair so that's what I have to review them as. Just because they are cheaper in their origin country doesn't mean Americans can purchase them for that. Thanks for the comment!
@@generationbehindhifi and what im saying is that youre dumb if you buy it at that price because youre getting 200 euro worth of speaker for your money.
Thats the essence to.make high quality sound in simple materials and simple way😊
No, it's the essence of a once good company that got to big for their britches and now they are fully taking advantage of the product by increasing prices and producing a product that is worth WAY less than the asking price.
Those speakers could be had in Europe for as low as 600 dollars... 2000 is just ridiculous
Some context needs to be added. These are actually 1000.00 speakers in France and most of Europe and went for 1500.00 in the US when first introduced. Focal products have always been high in the US. The only reason the price is this high are greed and inflation from Focal's owners. 2198.00 is really way to much for these. With that being said they should be judged as 1000.00 dollar speakers and not 2000+ speakers. In this context the build quality is just fine for a speaker at the 1000.00 price point that is built in France.
I didn't know that! Thanks for sharing! Unfortunately the fact is Focal sells them for $2200 a pair in the United States so they need to be compared to other speakers in that price category.
@@generationbehindhifiDoes the focal sells them there or does the distributors sell them there? I honestly cant buy directly from focal unless Im in France so I imagine those are distributors that set those prices and focal is not to blame
@@generationbehindhifi In france the 926 towers with center and the surrounds or 906 speaker 5.0 set is less than 2000 euro
After all said and done, you have to actually suggest something.
Don't you think😊
Nah... I'm not here to sell anybody on anything. This channel exists to show people what they are getting for their money. It's up to them to decide if it's worth it or not.
Parts express has = for a few 100 dollars
What you are talking about. The List Price is Update to 1200,-€! From wehre you geht the Fantasy Price!!
In America these cost $2198 per pair!!!!
Send em to GR Research
That mid woofer does look exquisite. Rest of the hardware is hard meh. 🤦🏻♂️🤷🏻♂️
typical french work ethic in this build
polished turd
I'm pretty sure this kind of cost cutting was done in the board room and not by the skilled labor. The skilled labor can only put together the speaker with the materials that the CEO and accountants have approved of.
I had a pair and sold them. I DID like them better than $3000 B&W, however, it was obvious they had issues and weren't the best for the money. The crossover is just a joke.
What B&W's did you have?
@@generationbehindhifi 705s2, the only ones at that price point. Abysmal tweeter. The focal Aria have nasty peaks at 800 and 1800hz. A canyon in the midrange., Also over -ring from the metal tweeter. The Aria are mid-fi speakers. They are not even as smooth as several sub $1000 speakers.
@@generationbehindhifi 705s2... $3000
Wow really cool video. It’s amazing these big ticket speakers are really cheaply made. Thanks for ripping apart your pair for everyone’s benefit 😂😂😂
No problem! :)
One word, plastic. Excellent vid
1:40 you just void the waranty...:)))))
I'm kinda good at that! Just saying... :)
The Ascend Acoustics $1495/pair Sierra LX speakers absolutely destroy these Focals. Cabinets are 3-layer bamboo, drivers are custom spec’d SEAS, and they are designed, engineered, and optimized on the $100K Klippel NFS. Frequency response is an extremely flat +/- 1.25 dB across the range. And those Focal $5 crossovers are a joke.
Never heard of Ascend Acoustics, but I sure wouldn't mind them sending me a pair to review and tear down.
I'm with you!! The Seas units are some of my favorites. I've built hundreds of xovers and there's no way I'd put that one in any speaker.
you are comparing Made in France vs Made in China. B&W and KEF make everything in China for everything under
I don't care about where they make them or what their "sale" price is. The fact is Focal had an MSRP on these speakers in the states for $2198 a pair. In my market (United States) these speakers did not offer the same value propositions that other brands offer at this price point.
European brand speakers are cheaper in europe. It makes sense
Its mostly man hours of research that you are paying for, it is going for $1300 now, means man-hour cost is recovered now only material cost is in picture.
you can get the 926 for 1600 dollars these days....
Unreal the bullshit that Focal is putting out for some of their speakers. It pisses me off. Because they clearly have the ability to make outstanding speakers and the ONLY reason for cutting these corners is purely to squeeze every nickel out of the customers pocket. There is no excuse for a company like focal to EVER not use T nuts on their speaker. Their cos lt for t nuts would literally be maybe $.10 per speaker. How many speakers do you have to sell to make cutting that corner worth it?
The crossover look very cheap for this high price point.
I think you paid too much, in Europe they cost around one thousand
Poor crossover parts. And your US price is totally overprized. 898€/ pair in germany. Same Version. 🤔🤔🤔
Looks like focal makes alot of profit on each pair nothing about this speaker looks like it should be 2200 smh
Wow that's really unimpressive for the money £350 is the most id pay for that sort of quality
Bonjour de France.
Mon anglais n'est pas assez bon pour communiquer dans votre langue..
Je ne suis pas un adepte des enceintes acoustiques Focal ( fabriquées à côté de chez moi) mais un constructeur artisanal français de ma region Mr Éric Buy (enseignant à l'école des ingénieurs du son et dont je possède sa dernière creation d'une extrême qualité , l'Atlantis Lab AT 23 ) m'a fait savoir qu'il banissait les inserts métalliques pour fixer les haut parleurs au baffle par les vis torx.
En effet, selon lui, cela produit des résonnances à l'intérieur de l'enceinte acoustique.
Donc je ne pense pas que cela pose un problème mais vous avez peut être raison concernant la qualités des filtres, etc..
Il est aussi à noter qu'en France, le prix de ces enceintes acoustiques est d'environ 1000 euros la paire..
Ceci remet les choses en place je pense😉
Worst crossover part 😢
$2798 CAD. What a joke.
Terrible quality.outside beauty camuflaging the extremely poor quality:(
Not my money on these.
Its almost criminal the price you pay for cheap crap Its all markerting hype its the same for a lot speakers unfortuatly
You're correct. Just look at all the snake oil surrounding $500+ speaker cable that in most cases is still made from copper!
Yes, disappointing.
Omg, a 2 way with a port ,overpriced
After all this shyt talk against focal they still sound better than any of the other speakers mentioned
lol! Someone got offended for overpaying on a subpar speaker.
@@dans8935 Lol. Someone got offended simply because what I wrote is is fact. Good luck finding a better speaker.
@@jonasf4065 "facts". LOL! Its hard to dispute what this youtuber pointed out in this video, but you keep living in your bubble! 🤣
@@dans8935 Lol. Sure. Some youtuber shows us how Focal is such junk yet its the best speaker in its price range that I've heard, hence the reason why I bought it. I dont care if its made of cellophane or paper mache..it..sounds..better. This Aria is something that i compared to B&W 706 and it was simply a better sounding speaker. My Focals, which apparently will collapse in itself due to poor construction somehow has managed to look just like new 5 years later and sounds incredible. Just a joy to listen to. Please tell those Focal Utopia owners they could have saved $200,000 just by buying some cheap $200 costco speakers. I feel terrible for them. Feel free to live in your focal hate filled fantasy land and listen to lesser speakers. I dont care.
What a rip off!
$2 tweeter in a $1k speaker?
And those crossover components look like something in a $200 speaker.
High profit and low quality JUNK!
Focal is literally laughing all the way to the bank.